Gorbachev lashes out at Putin

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Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has turned on President
Vladimir Putin, criticising the Kremlin chief for abandoning the
path of reform, and warning of an anti-democratic threat.

Mr Gorbachev, the father of reforms in the late 1980s that
helped end the Cold War and ultimately led to the break-up of the
Soviet Union, has until now defended Mr Putin against Western
accusations of authoritarianism.

But in an appearance at his Gorbachev Foundation, he lashed out
at the Government's handling of mass protests over welfare cuts and
said the achievements of Mr Putin's first term were being wasted
away since his re-election last March.

"During Putin's first term, he managed to achieve stability and
make the country more governable, which opened the way to realising
the program he spoke about and which I termed social-democratic,"
he said.

"But now we see that everything is going into reverse. If the
President gets the right to serve another term only to increase his
power, people will be disillusioned," he said.

Mr Gorbachev's comments came as a senior aide to Mr Putin, Igor
Ivanov, former foreign minister and now secretary of Mr Putin's
Security Council, urged the Kremlin to map out a vision of where it
was leading the country.

He said growing public distrust in the authorities was
threatening Russia's stability and national security.

Mr Putin has repeatedly said he does not plan to change the
constitution to allow a third presidential term, but commentators
say that with a two-thirds majority in Parliament, such a step is
possible.

Discussing the replacement of Soviet-era benefits for the
elderly and others with cash payments, Mr Gorbachev said a lack of
public consultation was to blame for the huge street protests the
change provoked.

"I believe this measure could have been made effective but
people were excluded from its preparation," he said.

Mr Gorbachev condemned the crackdown on alleged ringleaders of
the social unrest, which has produced protests across the country
by tens of thousands of senior citizens. "In my view, such
behaviour towards the elderly can only provoke indignation in a
normal person," he said.